That said, it is the sort of game I'd enjoy so it's going on the list.

Quote:

This design choice will likely turn away a lot of people. It's highly probable that you'll never reach the end, but if you feel you've the stubbornness to stick with it, Spelunky feels like a high dose of uncut perfect game design.

I don't mind the crushing difficulty, providing you feel like you've achieved something on completing a given task/level.